Summer Friday Experiment

So, I've been reading this book by a single gal of a certain age who took a leave of absence from her job and moved to Europe for eight months.  Clearly, I find that inspiring.  I would love to spend significant amounts of time elsewhere, trying to live my life in a dfferent way.  In fact, I've dreamed about heading over to Europe for the clay court tennis season, and spend all my time sightseeing and watching tennis for months.  Sigh.  That sounds divine.

As I'm reading, I start to feel even more lazy--lately, if I'm not seeing a show (which is more often than not), I'm just laying around my apartment, doing nothing.  So, I decided to break out, if only in a small way.  I made a goal for myself to try one of my Diners Deck restaurants and a museum on each of my remaining summer Fridays.  I can get some good food and good art, and feel like I'm accomplishing a little something.  Yesterday was my first outing.

I went to the Upper East Side to try Candle 79, a vegan restaurant.  The restaurant was really busy for lunch, so I had to take a seat at the bar.  No problem, it never bothers me to eat at a bar.  ;)  Besides, the bartender, Chris, was adorable and quite charming.  Candle 79 has an extensive beverage menu, with housemade sodas, cocktails with and without liquor, and a nice wine list of organic sustainable wine.  After deciding that it might be a bad idea for me to have a cocktail then go to a museum, I opted for the housemade ginger ale.  It was quite delicious, and very potent, with fresh ginger syrup, fresh lemon juice, agave syrup, seltzer and mint.  Yum yummy. 

The lunch menu is also pretty extensive, with lots of appetizers, salads and main courses.  I toyed with getting soup and salad, but the soup of the day was a cold avocado soup, and while I love avocado, I wasn't sure I would love a bowl of it.  So I opted for the not-very-adventurous avocado timbale.  It was a lovely dish, sort of like an elegant seven-layer dip--it had a layer of black beans, a layer of tomato/cucumber salsa and a layer of carmelized onions,which were almost pasta-like in their consistency.  At the bottom, was a smoky adobe sauce.  It was slightly sweet, slighly spicy, and very tasty.   I toyed with trying the peanut butter mousse dessert, which many reviews mentioned as amazing, but I was pretty full.  The tortilla chips served with the timbale were pretty substantial and just the right amount.  So, thumbs up for Candle 79.   With my Diners Deck discount, my meal came to just under $11!  Woo hoo!

      Off I went, from 79th and Lex, to the Frick Museum, at 70th and Fifth.  It was a lovely day for a walk along Fifth Avenue (thankfully, I had thrown a hat into my bag that morning because it was mighty sunny along Fifth!).  I should walk along Fifth more often.  It's so clean and pretty.  And quiet.  :)

Surprisingly, I've never been to the Frick.  I'm almost embarrassed to admit it.  Frick's collection is right up my artistic alley.  So I'm glad to have finally visited.  It's annoying, though, that they don't allow photography.  You can take pictures in museums all over Europe, but it's frowned on in America in so many places.  I would've loved to get a few shots of the layout of the house--it's quite lovely.  And hard to imagine as a residence.  All of the rooms just look so grand, it didn't inspire notions of kids running around throwing a ball.  ;)

The Fragonard Room was one of my favorite spots--it's very European and palatial.  I was disappointed that the Ingres is out on loan and the Enamel Room was under construction--I did so want to see all of the Limoges in the collection.  But the rest of the art was quite incredible, with Vermeers, Goyas, Gainsboroughs, a Monet, a Renoir, and a couple of James McNeill Whistler's I hadn't seen before  (we did a play about Whistler in grad school, so I know some of his work and enjoy it).  After wandering the galleries, there's a brief video about Frick and his home that was quite nice.   I spent a lovely two hours at the Frick and may even go back when the Ingres returns.  They have a 'pay what you can' period of time on Sundays, so we'll see.

So it was a good way to start to meet my last few Summer Friday goal--I think next week, I may try the Rubin Museum near Union Square.  I just have to find a good Diners Deck restaurant to go with it... :)